Hug your orange-and-blue neighbors. Call your Illini-mad friends.
If you’re dancing in the street as you read this, you must be part of the same giddy club.
For the first time since 2005, Illinois men’s basketball team has reached the Final Four. A 71-59 win against Iowa in the NCAA Tournament’s South Region final earned the Illini (28-8) a trip to Indianapolis.
They’ll face either Duke or UConn in a national semifinal next Saturday. An Illini team that pounds the offensive glass, defends with purpose, usually shoots the ball better than most and literally stands taller than any other team in the country will be ready.
“This group’s special,” coach Brad Underwood said.
But the No. 3-seeded Illini had to rally and grind in Houston to get over the hump against the No. 9-seeded Hawkeyes (24-13), who found a higher level in their first run to the Elite Eight since 1987. And Underwood’s team had to withstand one difficult bucket after another from truly outstanding guard Bennett Stirtz, who scored 24.
The first half was just plain strange, starting with the underdog Hawkeyes motoring out to a double-digit lead before the first media timeout. Later, the Toyota Center’s courtside horn got stuck and wouldn’t shut off for several irritating minutes. Then the Jumbotron went out. Was it a basketball arena or an 18-year-old Corolla? The Illini somehow trailed only 32-28 at the break despite shooting just 1-for-8 from long range, potentially disastrous for a team ranked ninth in the country in threes per game.
And though the Illini would end up an awful 3-for-17 from three and be outscored by 24 from the arc, their size and strength advantages showed up all second half and eventually tilted things their way. Back-to-back hook shots by Tomislav Ivisic put them ahead by five with under five minutes to go. A Keaton Wagler shot in the lane pushed the lead to seven. A David Mirkovic-to-Zvonimir Ivisic alleyoop made it 60-52 with 4:12 left. The Illini finished with a bruising 16 offensive rebounds.
“Our resilience was unbelievable,” Underwood said. “Guys just kept throwing body blows.”
BIG Z JAMS ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/HhnPXcxF9h
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 29, 2026
Soon enough, it was party time — not only for the current Illini but for the oldheads, too.
“I’m so excited,” Marcus Liberty wrote via text.
“Proud and grateful,” Bruce Douglas texted.
“Can’t believe we made it to the Final Four!” wrote Doug Altenberger.
Now, it’s on fabulous freshmen Wagler (25 points) and Mirkovic, the skyscraping Ivisic twins, hell-bent driver Andrej Stojakovic, Champaign native Kylan Boswell and the rest of this peaking team to win the school’s first national championship and the Big Ten’s first title since 2000.
“I hate losing,” Wagler said. “My goal is to win every game.”
Maybe they’ll make it to the last game and, this time, the refs won’t go whistle-crazy on a player like they did to James Augustine against North Carolina in 2005.
Maybe they’ll meet up with Michigan and block out better than they did against the Wolverines in the 1989 semis.
Maybe they’ll throw down some 1984-style alleyoops like the late Efrem Winters, or hit an opponent with a run like the one UConn put on the Illini in 2024, in honor of all the Illini teams that came oh, so close to the Final Four but didn’t get there.
Two wins from all-out glory, that’s all. Who says they can’t pull it off?
And what a moment for the 62-year-old Underwood, coaching in his sixth straight tournament at Illinois and the 10th of his career. He’s going to the Final Four for the first time.
“I just bided my time and found a group that’s magical,” he said. “We’re just living the dream.”